The impact of electronic land administration on urban housing development: The case study of the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria

Habitat International 36 (2012) 324e332

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The impact of electronic land administration on urban housing development: The case study of the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria Adewale Akingbade*, Diego Navarra, Jaap Zevenbergen, Yola Georgiadou Department of Urban and Regional Planning and Geo-information Management, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, Hengelosestraat 99, 7500 AA Enschede, The Netherlands

a b s t r a c t Keywords: Abuja Nigeria e-Land Administration Housing Expected value Actual value

This paper evaluates the impact of electronic land administration as an e-government policy initiative in Nigeria. It analyses conceptually the differences between the expected and actual value of Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS)dan e-land administration projectdon urbanisation in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria. The AGIS case study reveals that differences between the expected and actual value of strengthening the state’s financial capacity are low. The differences are medium for enhancing access to and security of credit, and improvement of land use planning and environmental management and high for the promotion of popular participation. The elicited differences are traceable to hindrances inscribed in Land Use and National Housing Acts, to inequitable access to land, inconsistent resettlement policy, poor community participation and financial misconduct. The findings suggest the need to pay attention to provisions through which e-government can support the reduction of country specific problems, improve the quality of institutions and to promote urbanisation, thereby increasing social welfare as well as participation by the people in promoting suitable and adequate shelter for all citizens. Ó 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Introduction Urbanisation has emerged as a core political issue in Africa and many African countries have started to recognise the potential contribution of urban centres in the development of their national economy (Puglisi, 2010: 287pp). The debate on how urban governance influences social cohesion and economic development in Africa is gaining momentum among academics (Gandy, 2006). Yet, how do Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and governance processes mutually shape each other in urban development? Generally, e-government is perceived to improve the capacity of the state to respond to citizens’ needs and demands (Gauld, Gray, & McComb, 2009), to serve as a mechanism for government’s administrative reform and to realise state policies and developmental goals (Ciborra & Navarra, 2005). In Nigeria, politicians and bureaucrats observed that to achieve developmental goals reliable and up-to-date cadastral records are imperative, and this can be achieved through good urban governance and well managed Geographic and Land Information System after the computerisation of land registries (Alkali, 2005; Suleiman, 2009); or in other words electronic land administration (e-LA).

* Corresponding author. 0197-3975/$ e see front matter Ó 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.habitatint.2011.10.008

However, the role of e-LA as an e-government policy initiative for urbanisation in Africa has not yet been fully investigated in the academic literature. There have been few, if any, empirical studies on the role of e-LA on urbanisation in Nigeria, and elsewhere in Africa. The objectives of this paper are to explore the expected benefits of e-LA according to the academic literature and then examine how Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS) contributes to urbanisation in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria. The rest of the paper is organised as follows. Section 2 (Literature review) presents a review of literature. A framework for the evaluation of the impact of e-LA in urban housing development is proposed in Section 3 (Evaluation framework). Section 4 (Case study) discusses the methodology and gives a description of the case study. Section 5 (Case study findings and analysis) analyses the case and presents the research findings. Section 6 (Discussion, lessons learnt and recommendations) presents the lessons learnt from the case study with some recommendations. Section 7 (Conclusion) concludes the paper and offers suggestions for further research. Literature review This section reviews the literature on the role of e-LA in urban development, which encompasses the planning and investment in

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facilities and structures to support urbanisation (Stren, 1993). It also explores the benefits expected from e-LA in urban housing development and in particular: access to and security of credit, the improvement of land use planning and environmental management, the promotion of popular participation and the strengthening of the state’s financial and taxation capacity. e-Land administration and urban development Good urban development can support a nation’s growth and welfare agenda (Kessides, 2007). Land Administration has for long time contributed to the understanding and management of urban centres through the development of cadastral systems for the provision of services and information on land ownership, value and use (Dale & McLaughlin, 1999). The rate of urbanisation in Africa is one of the fastest in the world (Puglisi, 2010). Such a trend is a great challenge to land professionals who apply e-LA to tackle the social, economic and environmental consequences of rapid urbanisation (Enemark, McLaren, & van der Molen, 2010). Researchers claim that e-LA can contribute to urbanisation via potentially facilitating the development of the infrastructure for the implementation of land policies and land management strategies to support sustainable development (Williamson, Enemark, Wallace, & Rajabifard, 2010a) and future living and livelihoods (Enemark et al., 2010). E-LA also has the potential to support greater efficiency and to improve government coordination and collaboration, better management of urban infrastructure, to enhance public participation in the affairs of government and the democratic process and bring people and government closer (see, Gauld et al., 2009). Yet, how can urban governments and citizens in Africa benefit from eLA as an e-government policy intervention, with most land lacking formal documentation of ownership and rights of use (Toulmin, 2009)? According to de Soto (2000): 275pp, such undocumented assets are hard to move in the market. De Soto argues that land with ownership rights not adequately recorded cannot be readily turned into capital and used as collateral for a loan. For de Soto, the main cause of poverty is lack of formal property rights that can easily convert work and savings of the poor into capital. De Soto exemplified his idea with the case of Egypt, where the poor have accumulated wealth worth 55 times as much as all direct foreign investment ever recorded in the country. In Nigeria, “. far too little emphasis is placed on the economic incapacitation of the population due to their having no recognizable property rights. Nigerian citizens thereby miss out on many economically empowering possibilities that such rights confer, including access to the collateral that is required to acquire credit from financial institutions” (Mabogunje, 2009: 793). Even though adequately documented or recognisable property rights are necessary for social and economic growth, they are not sufficient to ensure it and restrictions in property rights can limit the capacity of urban dwellers to afford formal housing and encourage informality and squatting (World Bank, 2009). Expected Value (EV) of e-LA on urbanisation It is difficult to establish that formal evaluation methods work well when evaluating e-government projects (Irani, Love, Elliman, Jones, & Themistocleous, 2005) and there is no internationally accepted or standardised method for the evaluation of Land Administration Systems (Steudler, Rajabifard, & Williamson, 2004). Set against these academic findings, this paper identifies the benefits of e-LA in the academic literature, referred to as the ‘Expected Value’ (EV) of e-LA in urbanisation and groups them into

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four categories: 1) Enhancement of access to credit and security for credit, 2) Strengthening of the state’s financial and taxation capacity, 3) Improvement of land use planning and environmental management and 4) Popular participation. Capacity is defined as the “ability of individuals and organisations or organisational units to perform functions effectively, efficiently and sustainably” (UNDP, 1998: p. x). The capacities for the realisation of the expected value are factors that affect the ability of a project to be developed, implemented and the results to be sustained (UNDP, 1998: p. xxi). The literature, for example (Enemark & Williamson, 2004; Guy & Henneberry, 2000) shows that the capacities for the realisation of the expected value of e-LA in urbanisation can be broadly classified as: Institutions, Organisation and human resources, Infrastructures and Finance. Enhancement of access to credit and security for credit The growing African urban population requires housing (Puglisi, 2010). Accessibility to and security of credit have direct influence on the availability of capital for citizens to build or buy houses. Yet, credit transactions are naturally risky. Lenders require collateral such as fixed assets as guarantee for loan repayment. For land or property to serve as collateral, the lender must be assured that the borrower is indeed the owner (Feder & Nishio, 1998). To lessen the credit risk, especially for long-term mortgages, lenders also check applicant’s income as well as the income-to-loan ratio (Loutskina & Strahan, 2009). Two issues are usually investigated before a credit is granted: title of the borrower and the value of the land or property (Osamolu, Oduwole, & Oba, 2008). The situation becomes difficult when lending institutions have imperfect information on the borrower, for example incorrect and out-of-date facts or data about land occupiers and property owners. E-LA therefore can be assessed in terms of its effects on the reduction of risky credit transactions and to verify the collateral to grant credits for housing, investigation of title and security for credits granted. Strengthening of state’s financial and taxation capacity Finance plays a central role at all stages of urbanisation (World Bank, 2009). An analysis of the effects of e-LA in supporting land and property taxation indicates an increase in effective revenue mobilisation (Mabogunje, 1990); therefore highlighting the direct contribution of e-LA to the financial and taxation capacity of urban governments (strengthening the state’s legitimacy) as well as potentially reducing the vulnerability to political violence in African states (DiJohn, 2010). Land Administration (LA), through taxes on land plays a significant role in raising revenue for public finances (FAO, 2007), which can also contribute to urbanisation. Improvement of land use planning and environmental management Improved planning and land-use procedures can increase the supply and reduce the cost of land for housing and plummet urban squatting (Toulmin, 2009). The use of high resolution satellite imagery and electronic surveying to monitor urban land use changes and GIS to manipulate spatial data and attributes to monitor physical development and plan service provision in urban centres (Masser, 2001) can improve urban planning and land-use procedures. GIS, with an integrated socio-economic database such as population, health, education, markets, transportation, and land use, provides functionalities that can also support planning of utilities and environmental management (Liu & Zhu, 2004). Cadastral maps, which regularly support land registration in many countries, are now derived from digital geo-databases. Popular participation Popular Participation (PP) provides the driving force for collective commitment to citizen-centric urban housing development

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processes. It has emerged as a major force in policy-making and political philosophy (Gbadegesin & Ayileka, 2000) and motivates citizens to undertake sacrifices and expend their social energies for urban development. PP is also a fundamental right of a citizen: to fully and effectively participate in decision-making, which affect his or her life (Adedeji et al., 1997; cited in Amba, 2010). PP encompasses promotion and building of partnerships among public- and private-sector agencies, and Community Based Organisations to avoid duplication of activities and conserve resources (time, money and equipment) needed for urban housing development (Williamson, Enemark, Wallace, & Rajabifard, 2010b). PP can make land administration transparent, enhance citizens’ confidence in LA and also promote private sector investment in urban housing development. Thus, the extent of citizens’ participation in e-LA requires monitoring and evaluation. Evaluation framework Drawing on the insights from the literature review, one can examine the role of e-LA in urban housing development in terms of the extent to which an Expected Value (EV) or theoretical expectation meets or surpasses the Actual Value (AV) or actual outcome of e-LA in urbanisation. The size of the gap (Aldrich, Bertot, & McClure, 2002) between the EV and the AV (i.e. low, medium or high), will ultimately determine how the anticipated effects and benefits (Irani et al., 2005) of e-LA as an e-government policy initiative for urbanisation are being met or surpassed. The framework proposed in Fig. 1 (hereinafter referred to as ‘EVAV evaluation framework’) can be applied in evaluation of the role of e-LA in urban housing development in four steps. The first step involves the development of a list of expected benefits from the literature. The second step is an empirical study of the real effects of e-LA in urban housing development, and a consideration of the theoretical expectations of a project vis-à-vis the real effects to determine the differences between the EV and AV. During this step, researchers “. cannot avoid what the positivists disparately refer to as ‘value judgements’. ‘Development’ is inevitably a normative concept, almost a synonym for improvement. To pretend otherwise is just to hide one’s value of judgements” (Seers, 1972: 22). The third step focuses on explanations of the differences in terms of the capacities for realisation of the EV. The fourth or final step consists of recommended actions to lessen the differences.

Fig. 1 illustrates the EV of e-LA on the left (alias the theoretical promise from the literature) and the AV on the right (alias the outcomes on urbanisation: government and the citizens). The dashed line with single-headed arrow indicates the differences existing between the EV and AV. The AV can fall behind (‘inferior to’) the EV or surpass (‘superior to’) the EV. In any of the two cases, the differences between EV and AV can be analysed and assessed as Low, Medium or High. The assessment can mark out and specify if a difference is inferior or superior as illustrated in the middle or shaded area of Fig. 1. When the EV is exactly realised as AV, then there is a perfect situation of nil difference, low difference indicates that the EV is maximally transformed into AV and vice versa. When the AV exceeds the maximum or upper limit of the EV, the AV can be considered superior to the EV. The solid lines with single arrows pointing towards the differences are supposed to show that the AV can fall behind the EV or surpass the EV due to variations in the capacities. Case study Methodology This research follows a case study methodology. Thus, it illuminates the implementation of AGIS and its effects on urban housing development in Abuja, within the natural real-world setting of AGIS. Data was collected in three phases: (1) preliminary exploration before fieldwork in December 2007 and March 2008, (2) comprehensive data collection between February and May 2009 and (3) additional data collection in FebruaryeApril 2010 and supplementary surveys in MayeJune 2011. Primary data were collected from organisations and individuals through 48 semi structured interviews, direct observation and surveys. Some of the interviews were digitally recorded with the consent of the interviewees and notes were taken in all cases. Direct observation involved on the spot study of geo-ICT users and people at work in AGIS headquarters. The observations took place at the reception desks, waiting hall and back offices. Three types of secondary sources of evidence were used: documents, archival records and physical artefacts. The total of six sources of evidence allowed the verification of data from one source with another (Yin, 2003: 179pp). Respondents to the interviews and surveys were selected from the AGIS organisation proper (supply-side) and from the users of AGIS

Fig. 1. Proposed evaluation framework for the role of e-LA in urban housing development.

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services (demand-side). The interview respondents were further drawn from other organisations involved in the provision of land and property related services and electronic government (supply-side). While the interviews cut across both demand- and supply-sides, the surveys focused entirely on the demand-side: the users of those land administration services that are electronically supported by AGIS. The organisations selected on the supply-side for e-LA in Abuja are the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), AGIS and National eGovernment Strategies (NeGSt). On the demand-side are Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and four Primary Mortgage Institutions (PMIs). Also on the demand-side are professionals, civil servants, local indigenes and individual citizens who use the services of AGIS. The selected users have received at least one kind of service from AGIS. For privacy reasons, it was not possible to get a list and contact information of users (individual citizens) of AGIS services. However, it was clear that organisations such as the FMBN and the PMIs are regular users of AGIS services as are private professional companies of Land Surveyors, Town Planners and Lawyers are also regular users of AGIS services. The professionals were contacted mainly through professional bodies like the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors and Nigerian Geo-information Society, Abuja branch. These approaches ensured that the respondents are true representatives of the users of AGIS services. The interviews and surveys with the organisational respondents were conducted in their offices, for example at the FMBN and ASO Savings and Loans PLC. All the interviews and surveys were conducted in-person (face-to-face). Attempts to use electronic survey were not productive, out of the ten trial questionnaires sent out by email, only one was returned. It is essential to recall that the survey respondents were selected from people who physically go to AGIS headquarters to request services. This is because the authors do not have access to an advance list from which to sample. Thus, the inperson survey adopted in this research constitutes a variation of so-called ‘intercept surveys’ (Rea & Peter, 2005). Surveys were conducted in two sets. The first set of surveys was carried out between February and April 2010 and the second set of surveys in MayeJune 2011. The surveys were conducted using questionnaires administered to the organisations and to individuals. Out of the 100 questionnaires administered during the first set of surveys, only 51 were returned and 77 were received back from the 132 questionnaires administered during the second set of surveys. During the preliminary exploration, we discovered that no user requirements surveys and analysis were carried out prior to designing and implementing AGIS. Thus, we included into the first set of surveys ex post questions, which go backward in time to identify causal factors for using AGIS services. An example of such question is “Tell me three benefits that you derive from making use of AGIS products and services”. We also asked questions on the significance of the computerisation and participation of Abuja residents in the activities of AGIS. The second set of surveys was a supplementary survey to incorporate more objective measures to evaluate each of the four criteria presented as the theoretically expected benefits. During the second set of surveys, a ranking by Fisher (2006): 76pp was adapted to allow the respondents to rank the effects of AGIS on housing development in Abuja on a scale from 0 (not applicable), 1 (strongly disagree), 2 (disagree), 3 (agree) and 4 (strongly agree). The idea here is that the higher the value of each of the four criteria, the better the impact of AGIS on the criteria. This ranking is referred to as weighted value1 in the case

1 For example, if 50 out of the 77 survey respondents selected 4 (strongly agree) for a particular question. The weighted value for the response to the question will be (50*4) 200 and 20 selected 1 (strongly disagree), the weighted value will be (20*1) 20. The impact in the former is considered better than the latter.

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study analysis. This implies that when a respondent selects 1, the impact is designated as very poor, for example, for a question like “the conduct of legal searches has indeed enhanced my access to mortgage or opportunity to borrow money to build or buy a house”. When 2 is selected the impact is poor, for 3 the impact is good and a selection of 4 is designated as very good impact. This concept is summarised in Table 1. It is important to note that these are perceptions of the effects of the computerisation by demand-side stakeholders. The perceptions were further verified from other data sources such as interviewing and documents. The data analysis started with transcription of digital voice files and field notes. The transcribed texts were assembled into six categories of related issues and followed by reading and analysis of documents and archival records. The open ended questions of the surveys were summarised to show categories of similar issues on housing development and the closed questions were analysed as percentages/ratio and displayed graphically in Microsoft ExcelÒ. Based on the qualitative analysis of the interviews, secondary evidence and quantitative analysis of the survey results, the differences between the expected value and actual value of e-LA in housing development in Abuja were labelled as Low, Medium or High. Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS) To guide an orderly development of the Federal Capital City (FCC) and the FCT, the Abuja Master Plan was approved by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 1979 (Jibril, 2006). Housing is recognised as a critical success factor in the implementation of the Master Plan by the designers of the Master Plan (International Planning Associates) at least in two ways.
Housing represents the most basic of human needs and has a profound impact on the health, welfare, and productivity of individuals.
Residents will judge the City not only on how the organisation of the City fits their everyday needs, but also on how the demand for housing is provided (COHRE-SERAC, 2008). Prior to AGIS, it was difficult to meet the land and housing needs of the citizens, especially with influx of civil servants into the new capital city (Ikejiofor, 1997) in the early 1990s. This forced civil servants to share apartments and led to the growth of squatter settlements. In 2002, it became clear that the implementation of the Master Plan has been distorted and the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), embarked on what is referred to as: ‘Restoration of the Abuja Master Plan’. AGIS was established in 2003 to modernise the entire operations of the Land Administration (LA) and other land related departments of the FCTA. From direct observation of processes and technology at AGIS, the Agency can be viewed from two perspectives. The first perspective is that of an agency for performing internal government processes through the use of GIS and associated technologies such as global positioning systems and intranet to support FCTA Departments and the six Area Councils of the FCT. The second perspective is employing the processes of the internal systems to externalise government by enabling citizens, publicand private-sector agencies to have access to LA services through Table 1 Ranking of demand-side respondents’ opinions and assigned impact. Ranking/weight

Opinion

Impact

1 2 3 4

Strongly disagree Disagree Agree Strongly agree

Very poor Poor Good Very good

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the internet and connecting with citizens through mobile phones, radio, television and print media. The e-LA services of AGIS include preparation and issuance of Certificate of Occupancy (CofO), preparation and issuance of statutory Right of Occupancy (RofO), production and printing of Titled Deed Plan (TDP), street naming and house numbering, provision of textual and graphic data such as land records, aerial photographs, satellite images, engineering drawings, images of buildings, property search and verification of land records, application for land allocation and land and property related revenue collection.2 Generally, these services are expected to support the implementation of the Abuja Master Plan, enforce development control standards, limit squatter settlements, facilitate infrastructure development plan for the FCT satellite towns and rural areas, improve sanitation level and greening, and improve funding and administration of the FCT. Evidences from direct observation and physical artefacts reveal that AGIS-GIS is customised especially for cadastral applications, using proprietary software and programs built in-house to store, manage, integrate, analyse and present geographic information to support decision-making and solve environmental problems. Large scale cadastral maps were produced on a scale of 1:2000 and ‘as built engineering drawings’ on a scale of 1:500 to support physical planning and development, such as road construction and mass housing development. Furthermore, a Land Information System (AGIS-LIS) was developed and linked to the AGIS-GIS. The AGIS-LIS produces all necessary documents including Title Deed Plan (TDP) and Certificate of Occupancy (CofO). A Document Management System (DMS) was also built and linked to AGIS-LIS and AGIS-GIS. Case study findings and analysis This section presents an analysis of the differences between the EV and AV of the effects of AGIS on housing development in the FCT as an indicator of urbanisation, and recommendations for lessening the differences. Actual value and differences with expected value Enhancement of access to credit and security for credit One of the objectives of the National Housing Fund (NHF) Act of Nigeria is to facilitate the mobilisation of funds for the provision of houses to Nigerians. The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) was established to provide long-term credit facilities to mortgage institutions, which grants the credit to Nigerians desiring to acquire houses of their own. An employee of FMBN pointed out that “there is no loan that we are going to give out without the end users proving that he or she owns a title to the land that he/she is going to build on [.] We source the fund that we give to the PMIs [Primary Mortgage Institutions]. The fundamental requirement for processing NHF loan by the PMIs visited during the fieldwork is the title document, the Certificate of Occupancy (CofO) or deed of assignment. To benefit from the NHF loan, the NHF Act obliges Nigerians working in private or public sector to contribute 2.5% of his/her basic salary to the Fund. The PMIs require evidence of registration with the NHF, equity contribution (deposit of part of the required loan with the PMI), income statement and three years tax clearance. These technically exclude the majority of Nigerians that are selfemployed, the less-privileged and non-working class from benefiting from the NHF loan to own a dwelling. In Nigeria, financial institutions often investigate title before granting credits to: ascertain borrowers’ ownership to the land or

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http://www.abujagis.com/services.html, accessed on 15 November 2010.

property being mortgaged to a financial institution as security, ensure that the same property has not been previously mortgaged, and ascertain there are no other encumbrances on the property (Osamolu et al., 2008). This was a very slow exercise before AGIS; some citizens were frustrated and lost opportunities to secure credits simply because their files could not be traced. AGIS now supports the investigation of titles in the FCT electronically through legal searches. It is possible to submit requests for legal searches physically at the AGIS office or online. According to an interviewee, who is a ‘private estate manager’, “I go to AGIS mainly on behalf of my clients, they want to use their title documents for housing loan and others want to sell or buy properties, I have to confirm the necessary document from AGIS. In fact this is the most important reason why I come to AGIS”. Another interviewee said that “the major relationship with AGIS is through our legal department for verification of land titles [.] the verification is faster now and better. Well, I believe that this has helped us in doing our job”. 48% of the respondents to the survey strongly agree and 43% agree that AGIS improved the performance of the legal search of title of a potential borrower and users are better served now than before. 52% of the survey’s respondents strongly agree and 40% agree that the processing of the requests by mortgage institutions for the verification of titles to land is faster and better now. On the contrary, the majority of the respondents do not agree that the improvement in the conduct of legal searches or verification of titles to land has really enhanced the access to mortgage. Only 38% agree and none strongly agree legal searches have indeed enhanced the access to mortgage. Also, only 31% of the respondents believe that the computerisation of land administration services by AGIS has generally helped in building up opportunity to lend money to buy or build a house in Abuja. AGIS significantly enhanced the investigation of title to secure credits for housing development in the FCT. Prior to AGIS, the investigation of title usually took several months or indefinitely in cases of missing files, while now this can be achieved within 24 h. This enhances security of credit because of the certainty of occupier of the land or ownership property being mortgaged and ensures that the same property has not been previously mortgaged. However, this positive development has not been accompanied by an enhancement of access to credit for housing. Fig. 2 shows the weighted values of actual impacts revealed during the supplementary surveys. While, the analysis presented graphically in Fig. 2 shows that enhancement of investigation of title is very good, improvement of access to credit through investigation of titles is less impressive. This finding from the surveys obliged us to present the findings under two headings in Fig. 2. Nevertheless, if all the respondents strongly agree that investigation of title through legal searches has enhanced their access to credit for housing; the benefit is to people who have already acquired land titles. An interviewee’s comment in this direction is that “. I can not vouch for how easy one can get it [land] now.”. Another interviewee observed that, “.AGIS has made little contribution to getting CofO, although the process can be faster, in fact, I think it is faster now. The problem is to get the land. I have been trying to get a plot for more than two years now, but no way”. Other interviewees opined that: “I am not sure that computerisation can do so much at the moment. The computer does not take decision on who will get land, rather it is the people”. “I submitted my application, waited, wait and wait. They said no land”. The problem is getting land or titles to land to secure mortgages in the FCT. The evidence from interviews, surveys and documents shows that the requirement to proceed to investigation of title, which is acquisition of statutory right of occupancy evidenced by CofO, is weak. Therefore, adequate documentation of land rights

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350.0

Dem and-s ide opinion on the a ctual value

300.0

250.0

Very good

200.0

Good Poor

150.0

Very poor 100.0

50.0

0.0 Effect of Enhancement Improvement of Strengthening income earned of state’s access to of investigation on financial and of titles (legal credit through improvement of taxation legal searches searches) housing capacity

Improvement of land use planning and environmental management

Popular participation

Empirical breakdown of expected value Fig. 2. An assessment of the effect of AGIS on urban housing development in Abuja.

electronically by AGIS only enhances the ability of land title holders3 to secure mortgages and does not necessarily turn into enhancement of access to credit. Then, there are differences, which can be described as ‘medium’, between the expected and actual value of e-LA for enhancement of access to credit and security for credit in the FCT. Strengthening of state’s financial and taxation capacity According to a former General Manager of AGIS, the Agency had generated 15 billion (about US$100 million) in 2007. The computerisation of the accounting system of AGIS makes it easier to create and update ground rent bills, calculate land premiums and generate demand notices for payment. Citizens have the opportunity to make payments through bank draft or online. Evidence from interviews and documents reveal that the revenue increased by upto 21 times between September 2004 and November 2008, when compared with the period before AGIS. However, an interviewee noted that “yes, they are making the money, but another thing is whether all the money is going to government purse”. This corroborates the opinions of some respondents to our surveys that: fraud and corruption “depends on the integrity of the operators” and AGIS “has checked malpractices and misconducts considerably. But, there are still some loopholes.” AGIS has substantially enhanced electronic billing and payment, resulting in increased government revenue. Even so, the Abuja government (FCTA) does not have access to this revenue to support housing development because the money goes into the federal treasury, in compliance with financial regulation while financial flows back to Abuja government are determined independently from land revenues. 69% of the survey respondents opined that the computerisation of land administration services by AGIS has opened new and better opportunity for the FCTA to earn more money. On the contrary, only one-fifth of the 69% thought that the money has contributed positively to improving the housing

3

These are already more-privileged citizens and land occupiers.

condition in the FCT, Abuja. Fig. 2 shows that the strengthening of the state’s financial base is perceived to be almost entirely very good and good while the effect of the income earned by the FCTA on the improvement of housing is entirely very poor and poor. The case study reveals that the differences between the expected and actual value of strengthening of the state’s financial and taxation capacity are ‘low’. At the same time the increase in land and property related revenue in Abuja is not reflected in the housing condition. Improvement of land use planning and environmental management AGIS analyses proposed and actual land use. Land use violations or misuses, such as buildings on water mains, encroachment on road corridors, and loss of Maitama Sport Complex to residential use were identified. Fig. 3 exemplifies the practical value of e-LA in Abuja. In December 2008, the workflows for street naming and house numbering were fully computerised, and plots of land or houses with more than one number (see Fig. 3) were corrected. To correct the land use violations, the FCTA demolished houses and physical developments, which contravenes the Master Plan. Citizens and civil society have different opinions about the demolitions, and the FCTA claimed it was necessary for overriding ‘public interest’. The Social and Economic Rights Action Center (SERAC) described the demolitions as a policy of forced, mass evictions and about “. 800,000 people lost their homes, schools, worship places and businesses during the exercise with spiralling effects on health, education, employment, and family cohesion”. Secondary evidence4 reveals that the commitment to the Master Plan is laudable and “. has brought discipline and organization to bear in a capital city of a great nation, a nation trudging on in an arrested development”. An interviewee remarked that “.government land is being sold to an individual, sewage systems are being sold to people to erect structures on them” [before AGIS]. A similar opinion is that “. a good development; they are doing it without fair or favour, with

4 Source: http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/sunny-chris-okenwa/ behold-the-demolition-mallam-of-abuja.html, accessed on 22 April 2010.

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Fig. 3. Identification of a plot with two house numbers and street names: image credits to Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS). Source: Secondary data, presentation by AGIS.

notices of demolition. They demolished political party secretariat and even federal government building at Mabushi roundabout. Come to Abuja before [prior to AGIS], it was very bad, but the place is better now” [after AGIS]. However, another interviewee claimed that “the decision to demolish may not be wrong, but it has no human face and not in the interest of less-privileged citizens”. Less than half (41%) of the survey respondents feel that computerisation tools of AGIS have helped in the use of land in an environmental friendly manner in Abuja. The weighted value of how AGIS has improved land use planning and environmental management in Abuja is mixed (good, poor and very poor) as shown in Fig. 2, with ‘poor’ dominant. The restoration of the Abuja Master Plan did not improve housing delivery systems, rather it reduced the prospect of poor households to housing, increased squatting because alternatives or compensations were not provided for the evicted citizens and increased illegal land developments as evictees relocated to other places within the FCT. For these reasons, the differences between the expected and actual value of improving land use planning and environmental management can be considered as being ‘medium.’ Popular participation The participation of citizens as envisioned in the Land Use Act was neglected. No Land Use and Allocation Committee, which is statutorily expected to advise the Minister of FCT on matters relating to land use and allocations, was established. Few people have access to the Master Plan and its recommendations, thereby leaving citizens in the dark regarding their rights and responsibilities with respect to physical development in Abuja. The Master Plan is misconceived as a complete or rigid blueprint for development, whereas planning is supposed to be a participatory, dynamic and an iterative process (COHRE-SERAC, 2008). A question is whose Master Plan is it: Abuja’s government or its citizens’? One of the respondents to our surveys suggested that “the government should carry us along in the implementation of the Abuja Master Plan; it is not good to force everything they want to do on us”. Fig. 2 shows that the respondents feel that the extent of citizens’ participation in improving housing in Abuja is largely very poor and poor. Only 11% of the survey respondents have attended any stakeholders’ meeting with AGIS. The respondents who attended the meeting all stated that they participated only in an ‘AGIS open day event’ in 2008. AGIS supports Federal Ministries such as Water Resources and Solid Minerals, and State Governments. The support is ad-hoc and not based on a long-term mutual partnership. We do not find any evidence of partnership between AGIS and NeGSt or the National

Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), which is the focal organisation for coordinating ICT projects in the public sector of Nigeria. According to an interviewee, “the challenge really is policy. If there is no policy, there is no way to coordinate. There must be a central coordinating unit. NITDA is supposed to be coordinating. Nobody is following any standard. That is why AGIS is doing their own thing in their own way”. Set against these evidences, the differences between the expected and actual value of AGIS in promoting popular participation for housing is regarded as ‘high’. As a final point, for the four criteria applied to evaluate AGIS for Abuja housing development, generally 92% of the survey respondents do not think that AGIS has performed better than they anticipated. Discussion, lessons learnt and recommendations The Land Use Act (LUA) governs all land in Nigeria. The LUA prohibits the alienation of the statutory RofO without the consent of the Minister of the FCT (Governor for States). The security of land transactions is neither adequately protected under the LUA nor readily available for exchange in the property market (Atagher, 2007). Property rights that do not guarantee free transfer of the rights in the property market are not only counter-productive to housing and urbanisation but also to economic development. The low civil service salary in Nigeria reduces the cost of corruption to civil servants and bureaucrats. One of our interviewees clearly put it to us that “if at the end of the day, we can tackle the issue of corruption, this issue of computerising our land administration is the best, [.] it is not the computer that is the problem now, it is the individual”. The computerised accounting system is also flawed in terms of financial misconducts as “certain officials have succeeded in exploiting certain loopholes in the billing system to defraud government”5. Corruption can be adjudged as responsible to the low differences observed for strengthening of the state’s financial base and implicitly for weakness of the requirement (statutory right of occupancy) for investigating title. Accordingly, the Nigerian Compass newspaper on 25 January 2010 reported that the LUA has created more problems in land administration making land inaccessible to the people. There is also no legal backing for electronic investigation of ownership titles in

5 Source: http://www.abujainquireronline.com/fetcher.php?fid¼3134, and http://www.afriquejet.com/news/africa-news/nigeria:-jonathan-suspends-landallocations,-sales-in-abuja-2010041647810.html accessed on November 2010.

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Table 2 Summary of findings. Expected value

Actual value for housing and differences

Reasons for differences

Enhancement of access to and security of credit

Investigation of title to secure credits for housing development and security of credit are enhanced. Improvement of access to credit to own houses is weak. Differences: Medium. Increase in government land and property related revenue has no direct benefit on improvement of housing condition. Differences: Low. GIS and remote sensing supports identification of land use violations and planning of utilities. Enforcement of the Abuja Master Plan makes some citizens homeless. Differences: Medium. Participation is mainly limited to the supply-side. No clear evidence of partnership of AGIS with other public agencies. Differences: High.

Constraints to access mortgages, e.g. requirements for consent to alienate and equity contribution. Difficulties in getting land. No direct access to land revenue for housing development. Financial misconducts. Inconsistent resettlement policy. Poor access to the Master Plan. Absence of the Land Use and Allocation Committee to advise the Abuja government. Poor infrastructure and inadequate coordination of ICT projects in general.

Strengthening of state’s financial and taxation capacity Improvement of land use planning and environmental management Popular participation

Nigeria. A bill to provide for their legal recognition is yet to be passed by the National Assembly. These institutional constraints are responsible for the medium differences between the expected and actual value of enhancement of access to and security for credit for residential housing. Secondary evidence reveals that between 1976 and 2003, there have been almost four major policy changes affecting resettlement within the FCT. The policy changes revolve around resettlement of original inhabitants (indigenes) of the area now defined as the FCT. An indigene from the Garki Chiefdom remarked that “. the disadvantage of removing people from their land is much. We believe in culture, there are people which have buried their parents on this land. They think leaving here is like vacating their posterity”. The inconsistent resettlement policy leads to a surge of informal and squatter settlements, which were later demolished. A citizen6 remarked that “rather than pull down existing structures, government should have integrated same into its approved master plan by reviewing the plan in line with present day reality”. This can be regarded as being a contributing factor to the medium differences between the expected and actual value mainly for the Improvement of land use planning and environmental management. Electricity to power communication infrastructure is generally inadequate in Nigeria. The Guardian newspaper on 7 June, 2010 reported that power outages are accountable for loss of about US$984.38 million annually. The power supply situation limits communication through internet and electronic media. Worse more, the supply-side controls the implementation process. The majority of Abuja citizens (specifically, AGIS demand-side stakeholders) have limited access to information, for example the Master Plan and its recommendations and the citizens are not noticeably integrated into planning and implementation. These observed and documented drawbacks explain the high differences between expected and actual value for popular participation. There have been trainings on the job for AGIS and FCTA staff members. They also participated in local and international conferences. However, there is no evidence of coherent actions for local personnel to carry on with the project. The position of an interviewee is that “it is a deliberate thing, government must stand firm. Train our people on how to do it”. A respondent to our survey commented that “Nigerians are not well trained in the technology and most of the operatives and staff at the front desk are casual workers”. The poor salary structure of the civil service discourages competent IT and GIS personnel from working in the public sector in Nigeria. The funding of AGIS comes from the budget of the Federal Government. The funds may be delayed but it comes and is used to acquire and maintain hardware, software, computer peripherals

6 Nigerian Newsday, Nasarawa State Weekly Newspaper: http://www. nasarawastate.org/newsday/news/nasarawa/10528110829.html, accessed 04 April 2010. 17.

and communication apparatus including intranet, internet and wireless communication devices like mobile phone to serve Abuja residents. Therefore, the nature of the funding of AGIS accounts less for the differences. The findings of this research suggest the need to revisit the issue of how adequately documented property rights can support urban housing development, the increase of social welfare as well as citizens participation. Whereas it is the government that holds the right of occupancy, once it is secured by the citizens, it is adequately documented electronically in Abuja by AGIS; some difficulties still persist in securing the right. Other issues such as the acquisition of the statutory right of occupancy and gainful employment are also de rigueur to the realisation of the expected value. While the case study of AGIS shows that adequate documentation of property rights is advantageous, the actual values are basically shaped by the capacities, for example Land Use and NHF Acts, and infrastructures. The requirements for granting mortgages and Land Use Act consent proviso points to the need for adequate financial strength to secure mortgages. Therefore, institutional reforms are pivotal to urbanisation in the FCT through e-LA as an egovernment policy intervention. The establishment of AGIS by the FCTA is pursuant to Chapter II, Section 18 (2) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria: “Government shall promote science and technology”. It is important for the FCTA to pay attention to the provisions of other Sections of the same Chapter, such as; welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government, participation by the people in their government, and suitable and adequate shelter for all citizens. E-LA can contribute to the realisations of the impressive constitutional provisions if implemented within the wider context of e-government policy initiative to achieve better urban governance in Abuja. The case study findings in Table 2 can help researchers and practitioners to recommend public policies and actions for improving urbanisation and housing development in Africa and give attention to the reduction of country’s specific problems (e.g. better infrastructure and the reduction of corruption). Conclusion In this paper, we propose and apply an evaluation framework to analyse a case from a major African city, where insufficient attention has been given to the evaluation of the impacts of e-Land Administration in urban housing development. From the EV-AV evaluation framework, we observe whether or not AGIS is really providing government and citizens in the FCT with the expected outcomes. The EV-AV evaluation framework is expandable and can accommodate future changes in the land administration and housing development policy, research and practice. The study shows that there are medium differences between the expected value and actual value of Abuja Geographic Information

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Systems (AGIS) in housing development in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria for enhancement of access to and security of credit, and improvement of land use planning and environmental management. The differences are low for strengthening of state’s financial and taxation capacity and high for popular participation. Observe that this paper is limited to the role of e-LA in housing development and the four categories of expected value of e-LA in urban housing development suggested in section 2.2 (e-Land administration and urban development) are not exhaustive and can be extended to incorporate new factors. AGIS indeed brings the required assurance and confidence into the Abuja land market, for example by confirming occupier and ownership, guaranteeing that the same land or property has not been previously mortgaged and certifying that there are no other encumbrances on a land or property. AGIS also improves land use planning and environmental management in the FCT. However, the case shows that e-Land Administration does not guarantee beneficial outcomes for housing development in the FCT without due attention to formal institutions and policies (for example, the Land Use Act), informal institutions (ethos of the Nigerian society), geoICT expertise, communication and power supply infrastructures and funding. Other issues, such as tax regimes and mortgage interest rates, which are not directly related to e-LA, could be considered in future research. Further research could also explore how urban development in general affects Nigeria’s socio-economic development and overarching human well-being in the FCT. Acknowledgements We hereby express our appreciation to the management and staff of the AGIS, FMBN, OSGOF, some members of the Nigerian Geo-information Association and McKing Hi-Tech Limited in Abuja for their support and free services during the various phases of the fieldwork. We thank the Ondo State, Nigeria Committee on Ethics of Surveyors Council of Nigeria for their support for the supplementary fieldwork. We are also grateful to Dr Richard Sliuzas of ITC, University of Twente for his comments and suggestions for improvement on an earlier version of the manuscript. References Adedeji, A., Otite, O., Amuwo, K., Egwu, S., Eteng, I., Kawonise, S., et al. (1997). Nigeria: Renewal from the roots? The struggle for democratic development. London and New Jersey: Zed Books. Aldrich, D., Bertot, J. C., & McClure, C. R. (2002). E-government: initiatives, developments, and issues. Government Information Quarterly, 19, 349e355. Alkali, J. L. (2005). Planning sustainable urban growth in Nigeria: challenges and strategies. In Conference on planning sustainable urban growth and sustainable architecture (pp. 1e9). New York: United Nations Headquarters. Amba, K. (2010). The need for popular participation in Abuja: a Nigerian story of informal settlements. Journal of Place Management and Development, 3, 149e159. Atagher, M. I. (2007). Legal and regulatory challenges in mortgage/housing development in Nigeria. In O. Fakeye (Ed.), The mortgage: News Journal federal mortgage bank of Nigeria, (Abuja) pp. 12e14. Ciborra, C., & Navarra, D. D. (2005). Good governance, development theory, and aid policy: risks and challenges of e-government in Jordan. Information Technology for Development, 11(2), 141e159. COHRE-SERAC. (2008). In D. Fowler (Ed.), The myth of the Abuja master plan: Forced evictions as urban planning in Abuja, Nigeria (pp. 124). Geneva-Lagos: Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) - Social and Economic Rights Action Center (SERAC). Dale, P. F., & McLaughlin, J. (1999). Land administration. Oxford - New York: Oxford University Press. DiJohn, J. (2010). Taxation, resource mobilisation and state performanceIn Crisis states working papers series 2, . London School of Economics and Political Science.

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